Steven Rogers

When Steven Rogers takes the stage in Jamestown this November to record his first album, he already knows it’s going to be one of the best moments of his career.

“When people come to my show — me being able to do an album at the National Comedy Center will be one of the biggest highs for me,” Rogers said.

A native of Syracuse, Rogers has already had several significant moments in Jamestown that give him good reason to feel that way. As a young comedian navigating the stand-up scene in upstate New York, he was invited to perform at the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival. It was there that his career took a new direction when he met headlining comedian Brian Regan.

“I’ve known about Brian since I was in middle school, and he was someone who just blew my mind,” Rogers said. “He’s a clean comic like I was trying to be, and I got to go watch his set right before my mine at the festival.”

Regan then came to Rogers’ set and they met afterward, but Rogers thought that was the end of it. Instead, his life was about to change.

“A month after the festival, I’m working at Wegmans and get a message saying, ‘Brian Regan’s manager would like to speak with you,” he recalled, “and now I’ve been touring with him for five years.”

If that weren’t enough, Jamestown is where he got his first national TV performance. “Two years after meeting Brian, I was back at the festival and a booker from Late Night with Stephen Colbert was sitting at the same table Brian had been for my set,” Rogersa said. “As soon as I got offstage, I had a message from her asking if I’d ever done TV and a year later, I was on the show.”

Rogers’ shows will be the first live comedy at the National Comedy Center since the pandemic began in 2020. He and his girlfriend, fellow comedian Caitlin Peluffo, struggled as most comedians did as the pandemic began. Then through Zoom shows, rooftop shows, park shows — any way to do stand-up again — Rogers found a new appreciation for comedy.

“I already appreciated comedy, but this was like an oil change for my appreciation of comedy,” he said. “People needed it more than ever. And we needed it just as badly. Brian Regan took me and my girlfriend back on the road as he started doing club shows to help them out. Clubs had struggled so much, and he knew he could sell tickets and maybe help them stay open a few more months.”

Rogers is hoping to show Jamestown his appreciation with a much-needed break from their daily lives.

“My way of doing comedy is that I don’t talk about anything topical,” he said. “My favorite stand-up is when you take a break from the outside world. So, this will be an hour break from it all.”

Rogers will be performing live and recording his album at the National Comedy Center’s Tropicana Room in Jamestown on Friday and Saturday. Details and tickets available at ComedyCenter.org/Rogers.